Business & Money Trail:

PREMERA BLUE CROSS BOLSTERS CARE, CUTS COSTS WITH ASCENTIAL

Ascential Software Corporation, a leading provider of Information Asset Management (IAM) solutions, announced that Premera Blue Cross, one of the nation's premier healthcare providers, is using DataStage XE to improve customer service and cost management in the delivery of healthcare services to over 1.5 million members. By selecting Ascential as one of their corporate standards for Information Asset Management and by using DataStage XE to build part of their enterprise data warehouse of 60 million individual insurance claims, Premera can now identify cost saving opportunities, improve forecasting and increase member satisfaction.

DataStage XE is a key component of Ascential's IAM framework, enabling companies to turn virtually any type of corporate data, including structured and unstructured data from operational, ERP, CRM, legacy, Web, or multimedia systems, into reliable, reusable information assets designed to improve operational efficiency and customer centricity.

Previously, Premera reaped little benefit from the wealth of strategic knowledge hidden within its legacy insurance claims databases. With its claims, disease and pricing information stored on various platforms, Premera legacy systems could only print general summaries of member services at preset schedules and generate ad hoc reports on individual transactions. The IT team could not meet business users' requests for new information as quickly as needed or provide ad hoc analysis as needed. As a result, Premera could not effectively analyze claims and was forced to develop program and pricing strategies using incomplete, inaccurate reports.

Hosted on an IBM midrange UNIX server, Premera's Information Warehouse uses DataStage XE to integrate data from the company's mainframe applications into a DB2 database optimized for decision support and analytical applications. Cognos reporting tools provide on-demand reports to business users who use the information to study service usage patterns, design more competitive, cost-effective services, and improve customer service.

"DataStage enhances our ability to create better member services across the board," said Marcia Seys, Premera system consultant and technical lead architect. "The Information Warehouse allows users to extract data on every patient visit to every Premera provider and understand how each member is using our services. We can study variations in cost, service and patient outcomes across our many hospitals, doctors and city groups. This critical information allows us to target educational services to help patients better manage their health and avoid more complicated and costly treatments down the road."

Seamless Information Asset Management

In production at Premera since December 2000, the Premera's Information Warehouse contains claims-related data such as procedure codes, hospital admissions, clinic visits and prescriptions from multiple platforms. DataStage transforms 60 million lines of insurance claim data into star schema format, and then the data is loaded into DB2. Once loaded, users query the DB2 warehouse to create multi-dimensional reports to develop more cost-effective treatment programs and customize providers' contracts.

The Ascential solution lets Premera's IT staff build an information management architecture that can easily be changed or extended to reflect new business conditions such as the addition of new information sources or value added fields. DataStage XE's architecture ensures the Ascential solution will scale with Premera's needs.

Premera's IT staff also benefits from DataStage's graphical user interface and robust metadata layer, both of which speed development and simplify maintenance over time when compared to internal development projects using Cobol or C. "We can build applications in half the time with DataStage compared to custom," said Seys. "The system is very easy to use and has saved us greatly on training and application development costs."

Over the next few years, Premera will deploy DataStage to support additional data marts containing information about current and projected revenues, premium rates and specific practice areas such as pediatrics and geriatrics that offer specialized forms of care.

"DataStage lets us quickly and flexibly build applications, which allow us to determine how to keep member satisfaction high and to economize," Seys concluded. "With our industry evolving so rapidly, timely access to information is vital if we're going to adapt to changing needs and best serve our members."

About Premera

Winner of the prestigious Excellent Accreditation rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Premera Blue Cross is a non-profit healthcare organization serving patients throughout Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The company has almost 3,000 employees among its headquarters in Mountlake Terrace, WA, and satellite offices in Spokane, WA, Bend, OR, and Anchorage, AK.

About Ascential

Ascential Software Corporation is the leading provider of Information Asset Management solutions to the Global 2000. Customers use Ascential products to turn vast amounts of disparate, unrefined data into reusable information assets that drive business success. Ascential's unique framework for Information Asset Management enables customers to easily collect, validate, organize, administer and deliver information assets to realize more value from their enterprise data, reduce costs and increase profitability. Headquartered in Westboro, MA, Ascential has offices worldwide and supports more than 1,800 customers in such industries as telecommunications, insurance, financial services, healthcare, media/entertainment and retail. More information on Ascential Software can be found on the Web at www.ascentialsoftware.com.

Contact Ascential Software, Barbara Petrocelli, 508-366-3888 x3009, barbara.petrocelli@asce ntialsoftware.com.